Think of helping your child with bipolar disorder. What comes to mind? Advocacy? Medical treatment? Education? Intervention? Support? Therapy? Probably all of the above and rightly so. If you have raised a child with bipolar disorder, you have likely been neck deep in helping with these areas for years. But sometimes helping comes in a different form, the hardest form ever, and that is letting go.  I recently had the opportunity to preview a new book on bipolar disorder called Owning Bipolar by

02 Jul, 2016

That’s right, MANIPULATION. Nobody likes to feel manipulated or to be called a manipulator. Kids with bipolar disorder are frequently accused of manipulation by teachers, family and friends. But is there more behind it? For insight into this topic please enjoy an excerpt from my book, Intense Minds: Altering the Environment When was the last time you altered your environment to make it more comfortable? You probably did today. Did you turn on the light to read this book? Did you turn on the heat

02 Jul, 2016

I bought a pair of socks a few months ago. At $3.00 they weren’t exactly a huge splurge. Arguably the best thing about these socks is that they are orange. Yes, orange is my favorite color! But they aren’t just any pair of orange socks, they are the softest pair of socks I have ever had. Infused with aloe, they pamper overworked feet. So what do fuzzy orange socks have to do with raising a child with bipolar disorder? One word – COMFORT. As a noun the word comfort means relief from affliction;

29 Jun, 2016

“Some months after my son began treatment for bipolar disorder we ran into a snag. We had seen improvements in my son’s mood swings, and he was feeling better. Even so, he did not like to take the medication that his psychiatrist had prescribed. It soon became a daily battle. At his next visit with the doctor, I informed him of my child’s reluctance to take medication for his illness. I sat back, fully expecting the doctor to give my child a lecture on the necessity of taking medication.

29 Jun, 2016

"Take a minute just to breathe and think of everything you wanted and what you got instead." Lyrics From: “Straight Ahead” by: David Cook      Rarely do our lives turn out as expected. When I was four years old, I wanted to be a dolphin – not surprisingly, things didn’t work out. When I was 10 years old, I decided that I would be a missionary. While much more plausible than a dolphin, this didn’t work out either. When I got married at 18 years old, I thought it would last forever. It didn’t.